Method of making sound-records.



A. SMITH & C. S. WICKES.

METHOD OF MAKING SOUND RECORDS APPLICATION mm SEPT. 23. I905.

1,152,445. Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

WITNESSES IHIIENTORQ M Ola/761200 .5. 1, W

I TTORNEI.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

AUGUST SMITH AND CLARENCE S. WICKES, OF CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING SOUND-RECORDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AUGUST SMITH and CLARENCE S. WICKES, both citizens of the United States, and residents of the city of Camden, State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Method of Making Sound-Records, of which the following is a full, clear, and complete disclosure.

Heretofore, in the art relating to talking machines, it has usually been customary to make talking machine commercial records by stamping or pressing the records from a body of plastic material, the surface of the records having a sound groove which is formed by a matrix or die having the part that forms the record grooves carried upon its face in the shape of minute spiral ridges, which vary in direction according to the undulations of the sound vibrations. The substance which has usually been used, as the material for forming commercial sound records, is a composition of shellac and some pigment or body material to give the requisite density. The proportion of shellac to produce the best results is usually forty per cent. by Weight of the total amount of the mixture. The reduction of this amount of shellac in mixtures for sound records renders the records more brittle and liable to crack, while at the same time the abrasive effect upon the needle is greatly increased.

The object, therefore, of our invention is in the production of a sound record, and the method of producing the same, by which the cost of the record is diminished, while at the same time the record is improved in quality and in its action upon the needle, and is also made more durable, and other advantages are attained which will be hereafter more specifically ointed out.

For a full, clear, and exact description of our invention, reference may be had to the following specification, and to the accompanying drawing which represents an enlarged sectional view of a portion of a talkin machine record made in accordance wit our invention.

Primarily our invention comprises the embodiment in a talking machine record of two grades of material or plastic material hav ing difi'erent characteristics, the material which forms the surface upon which the sound Waves are recorded being of a higher quality or grade, and having the properties which allow a better reproduction of sound, without in any manner decreasing the durability of the record, and without making the same more liable to become broken or warped.

As indicated by the numeral 1 in the figure of the drawing, the upper or recording surface of the record is preferably about one-fourth the thickness of the record itself, or in other words, the proportion between the finer layer 1 and the coarser layer 2 of the backing is about two and one-half to six and one-half. The finer grade of record material forming the effective record surface may be made to contain more shellac, and also a finer grade of the body material or pigment, the backing itself may be composed of a relatively smaller proportion of shellac and a coarser and less expensive filler or bod material, and shellac may even be dispense with, and another binder such as rosin which will provide a strong backing, when mixed with the body material, may be used.

In forming the record, plates or disks of both grades of record material, which are preferably slightly smaller than the ultimate size of the record, are cut out, and the plates or disks heated to the requisite temperature to allow the same to be molded. The thicker disk of low grade material may first be placed on the heating table, and then the thinner disk of higher grade may be placed upon the first disk. After they have become softened, both are then lifted together and laced in a mold in which operation the thicker disk prevents the thinner one from becoming bent or collapsing by being handled. The records are then pressed in the usual manner by a hydraulic press, or other suitable means employed in the art. Substantially the same result may also be accomplished by placing on the heating table a piece of paper or other record material that will support the thin layer, and then upon this place the.thin disk or plate of high grade material. When the latter has become softened, it is placed in the mold face down upon the matrix by means of the paper which acts as a carrier. The heated low grade record material is then placed upon the paper backing or carrier, after which the high and low grade material, and the paper, are all pressed together. in the usual manner.

In selecting the materials for the different layers of the record, we may use two plates of difi'erent color or shade. preferably only slightly different, and when the plates are ressed together, should the material of the ow rade plate to be pressed through the thin igh grade plate, it would readily show in the high grade material by reason of the difi'erent color or shade thereby forming a simple and eflicient method of detecting 1mperfections in the record surface.

One advantage arising from the use of record material of difierent grades or characteristics in forming the sound record is the fact that the surface material may be made of a material of composition which will more readily soften under the action of heat, and, therefore, flow more easily and completely into the recesses and grooves of the matrix, thereby making the record more nearly perfect, and at the same time not reducing the strength of the record supplied by the backing of a tougher or harder material.

It will also be seen that by making the body of the record of two or more layers of plastic material, the backing or layer of lower grade will expand or flow in the mold under the influence of pressure at about the same speed as the layer of finer grade of material, and without 1n any way causing said layer of finer material to be retarded in its action in filling the recesses or depressions of the matrix.

Having thus described our invention, we do not wish to be understood as being limited to the exact proportion and arrangement of materials herein pointed out, for changes may be made in the arrangement and proportions thereof, without departing from the spirit of our invention, but

What we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is,

1. The herein described method. of pro ducing a sound record for talking machines which consists in placing upon a heating table a piece of carrying material, placing upon the said piece a thin disk of highgrade record material and softening the same, then transferring said carrying material and soft high-grade material into a mold with said record material in contact with the matrix, placing heated low-grade material upon said carrying material, and pressing the layers of record material together with the carrying material between them.

2. The hereindescribed method of producing a sound record for talking machines, which consists in placing upon a heating table, a sheet of carrying material and a thin disk of high grade record material on one side of the same, softening said high grade record material, transferring said carrying material and said high grade material to a mold, and placing said high grade material in contact with the matrix of said mold, placing heated low grade material on the side of said carrying material opposite to that upon which is said high grade material, and then uniting said layers of record material with said carrying material between them, and simultaneously forming a sound record groove in said high grade material.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 22nd day of September 1905.

AUGUST SMITH. CLARENCE S. WICKES.

\Vitnesses:

ALEXANDER PARK, N. L. Gnmxcna.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,152,445, granted September 7, 1915, upon the application of August Smith and Clarence S. Wiekes, of Camden, New Jersey, for an improvement in Methods of Making Sound-Records, errors appear in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 71, after the word pigment, strike out the comma. and insert a period, and commence the following nrticle the with acapital T, thus making a new sew tence; same page, line 98, strike out the Word record, and line 101, after the word grade insert the word record; page 2, line 1, strike out the word record, and line 3, after the word grade insert the word record; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 2nd day of November, A. DL, 1915.

R. F. WHITEHEAD, Acting C'mnmissimwr of Patents.

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